Best cheapest metal cutting bandsaw

[PaulDiStefano]

hey everyone, after having ironwood destroy my bandsaw blades I was thinking about getting a metal cutting bandsaw. I don't know anything about it so I had a few questions
1- can the metal cutting bandsaw cut really hard and stabilized woods efficiently as well. Can I use the same blade for wood and metal
2- I saw a harbor freight 4x6 horizontal/vertical one for like $250 I think. Does anyone have any experience with this saw
3- what blade should I get. Bimetal? How many teeth per inch?
4- if anyone knows any metal bandsaws under 300$ As well as what saw blades they like best. that would be great
Thanks guys

 

[JTknives]

Your problem is with the blades not the saw. Metal saws cut slow and wood saws cut fast, blade speed I mean. You can put metal cutting blades on a wood cutting saw but the saw runs the to fast to cut any metal besides aluminium. What brand blades are you destroying. Might be time to look into some more expensive blades with proper tooth count

 

[Sharpe5097]

Ya, definitely operator error, not the machine.

 

[PaulDiStefano]

Your problem is with the blades not the saw. Metal saws cut slow and wood saws cut fast, blade speed I mean. You can put metal cutting blades on a wood cutting saw but the saw runs the to fast to cut any metal besides aluminium. What brand blades are you destroying. Might be time to look into some more expensive blades with proper tooth count

I have no idea what type of blade they are but probably around 3-5 tpi I don't remember exactly. I'm using my dads old saw that just had it on alrdy. He was a woodworker. I know a better saw blade would fix the problem. I was just curious if anyone knew about the cheaper metal bandsaw I mentioned and if I got a metalcutting blade would it still work well cutting wood. And that's what I have no idea about. Idk what proper tooth count should be. Essentially I want a metal cutting bandsaw as well but I just need help answering those questions. I don't know much about this topic
Thanks for your response

 

[PaulDiStefano]

Ya, definitely operator error, not the machine.

Haha what kind of help is that man... I was asking questions I need help with..wheres the part where I messed up that was an operator error....wheres the part where I blamed the machine...thanks anyway

 

[Greenberg Woods]

hey everyone, after having ironwood destroy my bandsaw blades I was thinking about getting a metal cutting bandsaw. I don't know anything about it so I had a few questions
1- can the metal cutting bandsaw cut really hard and stabilized woods efficiently as well. Can I use the same blade for wood and metal
2- I saw a harbor freight 4x6 horizontal/vertical one for like $250 I think. Does anyone have any experience with this saw
3- what blade should I get. Bimetal? How many teeth per inch?
4- if anyone knows any metal bandsaws under 300$ As well as what saw blades they like best. that would be great
Thanks guys

Jarod is right. A metal cutting bandsaw would not work. Your main issue is too many teeth. Each tooth needs a specific amount of power from the saw, and an amount of thrust from you.

You should get a 2 or 3 TPI blade, go for a wider one "1/2 is standard"

While i havnt cut up a TON of ironwood, i do cut ipe burls, cocobolo, rosewood, kingwood, ebony and other incredibly dense woods on a regular basis. There are two main ways to approach the issue. You can get nicer blades that last longer, or buy a lot of cheaper blades that wont last as long. ive done both.

I used a lenoxx trimaster carbide bandsaw blade, but at 130 if you mess up the blade you are REALLY screwed.

For a midrange blade i love the timberwolf silicon steel blades. The last a while and come really sharp.

for the low end you can basically just buy as many of the cheapest blade you can find. They will dull fast, they might break, but thats ok. They're cheap.

 

[PaulDiStefano]

Jarod is right. A metal cutting bandsaw would not work. Your main issue is too many teeth. Each tooth needs a specific amount of power from the saw, and an amount of thrust from you.

You should get a 2 or 3 TPI blade, go for a wider one "1/2 is standard"

While i havnt cut up a TON of ironwood, i do cut ipe burls, cocobolo, rosewood, kingwood, ebony and other incredibly dense woods on a regular basis. There are two main ways to approach the issue. You can get nicer blades that last longer, or buy a lot of cheaper blades that wont last as long. ive done both.

I used a lenoxx trimaster carbide bandsaw blade, but at 130 if you mess up the blade you are REALLY screwed.

For a midrange blade i love the timberwolf silicon steel blades. The last a while and come really sharp.

for the low end you can basically just buy as many of the cheapest blade you can find. They will dull fast, they might break, but thats ok. They're cheap.

I will eventually get a metal cutting bandsaw for cutting metal in the future.
See this whole time i was thinking that the more teeth the better it will cut harder things. Right now im afraid I could mess up a 130$ blade really quick because of my inexperience but i'll definitely try out the midrange blade you mentioned.
Also how long does that lenoxx trimaster carbide bandsaw blade last you.
Thx bro you helped a lot
-Paul

 

[R.C.Reichert]

I remember reading somewhere that there is a certain break in period/procedure you need to follow with bandsaw blades to prevent the teeth from breaking off or wearing prematurely. Maybe someone here knows more about this...

 

[Greenberg Woods]

I remember reading somewhere that there is a certain break in period/procedure you need to follow with bandsaw blades to prevent the teeth from breaking off or wearing prematurely. Maybe someone here knows more about this...

Yes. A lot of blades should be "broken in" by cutting 5 or 10 feet of wood like pine, poplar, fir, redwood or other soft wood. It prevents the blade cutting too aggressively.

How do i know this is a step you should take?

Because my first 135 dollar lenox trimaster carbide blade snagged a piece of kingwood and destroyed itself amd damn near gave me a heart attack.

Just cut something soft for 5 minutes with a new blade before working on anything you care about.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

To answer your question about the HF 4X6 .... yes, many of us use one. It needs a good blade ( the one that comes with it is junk). I use 24TPI Lenox die-master blades for metal cutting. If you have the floor space it is best to leave the saw on the base and have the ability to cut pipe and thick bar/plate. If you are pressed for shop room, you can remove the saw arm and mount it on the workbench.

If you have a small shop and won't be cutting lots of metal, a Port-a-band ( portable band saw) and a SWAG table to mount it on is a good setup. Doing a search on those things will get lots of threads on their attributes.

 

[Horsewright]

Have to disagree with Stacy on one point; the portaband on a swag table (mine is a Dewalt) can cut lots of metal. LOTS. I work in large batches of 60 odd blades at a time. Kinda a never ending treadmill as my brother calls it. I am normally cutting one batch out and getting them ready for heat treat, have a batch at heat treat, have some back from heat treat awaiting post ht grinding and a batch getting their handles and sheaths finished off. The little Dewalt cuts all these, all the time. And lots more too. I have the floorspace and the funds for a freestanding, full size, and haven't even considered it for years.

My daughter was home from college a few days and helping the old guy out:

I live in a small mountain town with out a lot of shopping opportunities. I can get the blades for a portaband at our local Home Depot. Everything else I use, darn near has to be ordered in. Its conveniant to pick those up when I need too. And its literally right outside the front gate of the ranch. It might look like I'm roping this heifer but I'm really checking the crowd at HD to make sure I can run in and out with my blades.

 

[Britt_Askew]

A dewalt portaband could cut all day long and be ok but a portaband from harborfreight wouldnt hold up to running all day long, you would need to cut a while then let it cool for a while before you cut more. You get what you pay for as they say.

You dont need a 130.00 blade to cut ironwood , just a good sharp one.

 

[john april]

what are you guys thoughts on blade thickness ? the thinner the blade, the faster the cut, but the sooner it wears out? seems like an .020" cuts faster than a .025". i have a jet stand up metal cutting bandsaw, and the small milwaukee compact portaband on a swag table. they both work well although the compact model has a small throat and limits the depth of some cuts. get a large one.

 

[MBB]

Just a note on wood cutting bandsaw blades. I've used the Highland Hardware Wood Slicer for years with excellent results in all woods. It won't make tight turns, but it otherwise does everything I want (beyond resawing).

http://www.highlandwoodworking.com/wood-slicer-resaw-bandsaw-blades.aspx

 

[Greenberg Woods]

Have to disagree with Stacy on one point; the portaband on a swag table (mine is a Dewalt) can cut lots of metal. LOTS. I work in large batches of 60 odd blades at a time. Kinda a never ending treadmill as my brother calls it. I am normally cutting one batch out and getting them ready for heat treat, have a batch at heat treat, have some back from heat treat awaiting post ht grinding and a batch getting their handles and sheaths finished off. The little Dewalt cuts all these, all the time. And lots more too. I have the floorspace and the funds for a freestanding, full size, and haven't even considered it for years.

My daughter was home from college a few days and helping the old guy out:

I live in a small mountain town with out a lot of shopping opportunities. I can get the blades for a portaband at our local Home Depot. Everything else I use, darn near has to be ordered in. Its conveniant to pick those up when I need too. And its literally right outside the front gate of the ranch. It might look like I'm roping this heifer but I'm really checking the crowd at HD to make sure I can run in and out with my blades.

If you ever want to come on out of the mountains i got a big metal cutting bandsaw and a plasma torch!

 

[Horsewright]

Oh heck no Ben! Made our annual pilgrimage to the Garment District yesterday. Gotta get silk for our wildrags. Got there at 0940 and was otta there north bound and hammer down at 1120.

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

When I said "won't need to cut large amounts of steel", I was referring to the HF porta-band as the lower cost alternative. I now realize that I left off te HF referrence.

The Major brands like Dewalt and Miller will cut all day long. They also cost more.

 

[PaulDiStefano]

To answer your question about the HF 4X6 .... yes, many of us use one. It needs a good blade ( the one that comes with it is junk). I use 24TPI Lenox die-master blades for metal cutting. If you have the floor space it is best to leave the saw on the base and have the ability to cut pipe and thick bar/plate. If you are pressed for shop room, you can remove the saw arm and mount it on the workbench.

If you have a small shop and won't be cutting lots of metal, a Port-a-band ( portable band saw) and a SWAG table to mount it on is a good setup. Doing a search on those things will get lots of threads on their attributes.

Thanks Stacy. That info was just what I was looking for.
And thanks everyone. You all helped me learn a bit about the different variety of tools and they're capabilities. I had no idea you had to break in a saw blade. You guys are awesome.
Thanks
Paul

 

[CWendling]

For a metal cutting blade, the rule of thumb ive always used is 3 teeth in the material at all times. So toothcount will vary based on the size steel you will be cutting regularly. Lennox bimetal are kind of the standard for metal cutting blades Id say

 

[Stacy E. Apelt - Bladesmith]

One last comment:
I have both a Milwaukee porta-band and a HF 6X4 setup. The 6X4 was taken off the base and put on the end of a workbench top. It only takes up about a foot of benchtop that way.

The porta-band is great for trimming stuff, but I prefer the slightly larger depth/width of cut on the HF for cutting out blade profiles.

Here is how I set up the HF saw:


BTW, I have discovered that in the new BF format, if you click the image link you will see that image only in a separate browser window. If you click the thumbnail image, you will get all the images in a dropdown slide show.